Pressure on ECB to begin printing money eases, poll shows

PRESSURE on the European Central Bank to start printing money like its US and British peers has eased, a Reuters poll has showed, while the Bank of England will expand its asset purchase programme next month by less than first thought.

With a recession almost certainly underway in the euro zone, the poll of 66 economists also suggested the ECB will cut interest rates to a new record low of 0.75% in February or March from 1% currently.

Last month the ECB pumped almost half a trillion euro of cheap three-year money into Europe’s banking system. Since then, the consensus chance it will have to engage in quantitative easing has fallen to 30% from 40%.